Connectors having insulation displacement contacts (IDC) are widely used in the telephone and computer industries as well as many other industries. U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,055 which issued June 25, 1972 to Hufnagle discloses such IDC connectors in detail. Occasionally, a connector becomes damaged during use and must be repaired or replaced. To do this, portable hand tools have been developed to permit removal of a damaged IDC connector from a cable and subsequent retermination of the wires contained in the cable to a new replacement connector. An example of such a hand tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,571 which issued July 3, 1973 to Brehm. Such hand tools are designed for use with rather large connectors having substantial space between contacts so that the insulation crimping blade has sufficient room to enter between the walls of the housing that are adjacent the contact on either side without damaging these walls. However, with more closely spaced contacts where the contacts are very close to the adjacent walls of the connector housing, it is difficult to insert the insulation crimping blade between the walls during insertion of the wire without damaging the walls. This problem arises due to slight misalignment of the connector housing within the hand tool or due to a slight warping or bowing of the connector housing walls.
What is needed is an inexpensive but effective guide means for precisely aligning a selected contact within the connector housing with the crimping and insertion blades so that the walls of the connector housing are not damaged.